When there is no space in Time-Machine Disk

[Abdulhaq]

I have a mac-mini and a macbook wirelessly connected to an Airport Extreme (the new AC model). This Airport Extreme is connected to an external 1 TB portable hard disk. Both the computers are periodically backed up on schedule by using the Time Machine software.

Yesterday I connected the macbook to the power supply (it is configured to backup not on batteries but only when connected to the mains power supply). The display mentioned 10 gb to backup but the available space was only 12 GB. I checked today morning and it was not backed up. Time Machine also always displays that the oldest backups are deleted for making space for new backups. Which means, I assume, that the backups will eternally take place even with the 1 TB size limitation. Therefore I fail to understand as to why the latest backup did not take place.

 

[Micky Do]

Time to get a new external HDD for Time Machine back-ups….. That's what I did when my first one got near full after about three years. No problems.

 

[ElCani]

It should work as you say, deleting old back-ups as needed. I used a full TC this way for a couple of years. My advice would be to try again, manually initiating the back-up from System Preferences. I very occasionally saw "Time Capsule is out of space" messages, but these were just glitches.

 

[gpspad]

I have gotten that message a few times on my MacBook.

I think it may be due to the MacBook not being plugged in all the time and not giving time machine a chance to erase the old files. A desktop is always connected and may trigger the cleaning more frquently. I have had to just erase the old backups.

With an external HD I'd say just get a bigger one.

 

[fischersd]

Have you been manipulating a lot of large files? (eg. doing batch converts of .mkv files to .m4v files) on a drive that time machine manages?
These sort of activities are what can fill up your time machine drive long before it should be. The suggestion to nuke it and start over is what you should try first. If it doesn't fill up in a couple of weeks, you're good.

(if you do such things regularly, best to have the source and target locations excluded from your time machine backups).